Switching Ties
by trenzaloki
Summary: A Ravenclaw girl meets a Hufflepuff boy. After getting to know each other, they come up with an unusual experiment.
1. The Feast

"Let the feast," Dumbledore paused, "begin!" The tables flooded with food, as they always did after the sorting. Older students knew to grab as much food as possible, while first years sat in awe of the bountiful plates of any food imaginable. In fact, many of them were so awed that by the time they tried to get some of the food, it was all taken by older students.

Zoe was a fifth year witch, one of the top students in her class. She had been advanced to some sixth and even seventh year courses and was on a path heading to an influential career in the wizarding world.

All that aside, this girl could eat. Her muggle family was fairly poor, limiting her meals during the summers when she was away from school. This, being the first meal back at Hogwarts, was the first time she would fill her stomach since she left at the end of last year. As soon as the food appeared, she immediately grabbed three chicken legs, a leg of lamb, a scoop of mashed potatoes, and various desserts. Soon, her plate was clean and she was glad that Hogwarts' robes were loose because she was about to burst.

Now that she wasn't distracted by eating, she took a look around to see who changed over summer. She certainly hadn't, still a lanky sixteen year old with an unfortunate haircut due to a potions-related accident last semester.

She took a look around the huge dining hall, noticing who came back to school with tans and stories of fantastic boyfriends (both fake, of course). Most of those people were in Slytherin or Griffindor, as she hardly noticed any in Hufflepuff or her own house, Ravenclaw. Most students tend to make friends in their own house, mainly because of their similar personalities and goals, but also because of the sheer proximity. Additionally, sneaking into the boys' dormitory in your own house was worlds easier than sneaking into an entire other house.

But, even though Zoe was one of the ten smartest wizards at Hogwarts and was sorted into Ravenclaw, her true personality more accurately resembled that of a Hufflepuff. Often times she found herself staring at the Hufflepuff table, wishing she was sitting there. She never fit in as a Ravenclaw. Not even as a first year, when the sorting shoud have been the most accurate. She had a few friends in her own house, mainly because it was nearly impossible not to, but she spent all the time she could with her friends in Hufflepuff.

As her eyes scanned the essentially faceless mass of wizards wearing yelllow ties, one face stood out. A face that happened to be looking back at her. He was an especially scrawny boy, probably a year or two older than her, who was enjoying his Jell-O cup while maintaining intenseeye contacft with her. Had she ever seen him before? Guys don't do this because of random eye contact across a crowded hall, he must have recognized her. _Maybe if you don't look at him for a while, he'll stop._

She spent the last half hour of the feast making small talk with her friends, occasionally glancing up to look at the Hufflepuff boy, who seemed to have disappearred only a few minutes after their eye contact. You reassure yourself, _he's probably just in the restroom._

He still hadn't returned by the time Dumbledore called everyones' attention, made a small speech, and released the students to their dormatories. She decided to ignore it; he probably just moved to the far end of the table and she couldn't find him.

Thousands of students simultaneously stood up in an attempt to get back to their dormatories, ignoring the fact that not all of them could fit through a single doorway at once. Some of the more intelligent students stayed behind a bit, just to wait for the crowd to clear. They knew the way to their rooms by now, so there wasn't any need to be guided by a prefect and a bunch of first years. True to the houses' natures, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were the only two houses with any students who stayed behind to wait.

Zoe scanned the crowd of remaining students until she spotted the boy from earlier. He was walking slowly towards her, a pleased look on his face. As he walked closer to her, she began to notice the little details that she missed when he was across the hall. His tie was loosened and tied sloppily and his overall appearance bordered on disheveled, but he managed to look extraordinarily sexy. Earlier she thought he looked scrawny, but now it was clear that he was muscular, but lean. He ran a hand through his gorgeous brown hair, "Hey so I saw you earlier and I thought you were pretty cute."

"Hey! How come I've never seen you around before?" she asked.

He laughed and leaned on the dining table, "I tend to stay away from school events."

"Too cool for them?" she aksed mockingly.

He paused, "You could say that." It was clear that there was more to that answer, but she had no intention of prying.

The students that rushed through the doorway had cleared out into their dormitories, so Zoe started walking out of the dining hall.

"Hey, girl! Where are you going?" He ran to catch up to her. "I don't even know your name."

"It's Zoe," she looked at him for a moment, pondering. "Follow me."

They hurried through the empty halls as she tried to remember where the room was. "Where are we going?" He asked.

"Shh! You'll find out soon," she wove through a maze of identical hallways until they reached a dead end.


	2. The Hollow

"Did you really get us lost?" he joked. She placed her hand on the wall and whispered a spell that he couldn't hear. The stones disappeared, forming a doorway into a small chamber. She had found this room in her second year at Hogwarts, and since then had decorated it exactly how she wanted. That meaning, the walls were covered with posters and pictures of bands, movies, celebrities, and fashion. As it had been unfurnished when she discovered it, she began sneaking pillows away from the dormitory, and now they covered the floor. It was basically just a sofa, but a sofa that was all hers. She pulled him through the small doorway, and collapsed on the pile of pillows.

"How did you-"

"Simple illusion spell. I found the hollow second year, and put a spell on it so that it would be solid stone without my spell."

"How very Ravenclaw of you," he flirted as he sat down next to her on the pillows. The hollow was small, only really the size for one person, but she gladly fit him next to her. "Are you a sixth year too?"

"Fifth, but im taking sixth and seventh year classes. When I first came here I could already do magic with my wand. By halfway through first year I could do basic magic without it."

"That's incredible. How much can you do now?"

"You'll see," she said, winking. He was cute. I mean, _really_ cute. Staring into his eyes, she realized that she had unconsciously loosened his tie using magic. She masked the slight embarrassment with a laugh, "Sorry about that."

"No need," his hand had slid onto her thigh.

"So um... you do this often?"

"Clearly you don't," he laughed as he pulled his hand back.

"Sorry, I've never done this befo-" _Why did you say that why did you say that why did you say that?_

"Never? That's impossible. You must have at least one boyfriend; you're beautiful."

"Never a relationship. I mean, I've dated, but none of them were really-"

"Not serious, I get it," he interrupted.

"Yeah... Nothing longer than a few weeks. Honestly I'm too dedicated to schoolwork. It's my passion and it comes before everything else."

"I'm the same way. I don't know why I wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw six years ago. I have almost no friends in Hufflepuff; they are all in Ravenclaw. I just don't belong there, you know?"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"What?"

"I'm the same way. Or, well, the opposite way. All my friends are Hufflepuff."

"You're kidding! Why would you want to be Hufflepuff?"

"I'd ask you the same thing! What's so great about Ravenclaw?"

"Everybody is like me. People care about work, and they devote their lives to it. That's where I belong. I don't belong with a bunch of Hufflepuffs. Why would you want to be Hufflepuff?"

"Everybody is friendly. I mean really, truly kind. I don't care much what people do for a living as long as they are good people who help others."

"Yeah, that's the part of Hufflepuff that I actually like."

"And I agree, it _is_ nice to be around people who are dedicated to their work. It's just... it's too much, you know?"

"I understand." He laughed, "Hey wouldn't it be funny if we switched our robes? I could go to Ravenclaw, you could go to Hufflepuff, claim that we were put in the wrong dormatory, and see how long we can do it without getting caught?"

"Are you serious?"

"Why not?"

"No, it just sounds amazing and I didn't want you to be joking."

"Do you want to?"

"Of course! Here, we can just switch our uniforms now," She said as she took off her robe and her tie.

He did the same, and they switched uniforms. "Do you think this will really work?" She asked him as she tied her tie. It felt strange to her to tie a yellow and black tie. For four years she had gotten used to her blue and black one, and now it felt like she was betraying her house. Choosing to ignore this feeling, she helped..._ shit what's his name?_... well, she helped the boy to tie her tie. I mean, his tie.

"Good evening students," Dumbledore's voice boomed throughout the entire school, "This is a reminder that all students must return to their houses withing fifteen minutes. If you get lost, I would advise you to find a prefect to lead you back to your house. And remember, don't trust the staircases. They do like to change on occasion."

"Shit, we have to go back," Zoe said. She stood up, placed her hand on the stone where they entered the hollow and whispered the spell. The stone melted away to let them enter the hallway where they came from.

He walked out of the hollow behind her and remarked, "I still can't believe you made this."

"Well, I didn't really make it. The hollow was already there, all I did was cast a spell on it."

"It's still impressive. You know, for a Hufflepuff," he winked and smoothed her new tie.

She reciprocated the motion, instead loosening his tie so that it was similar to how his own tie was earlier. She laughed, "Somehow I don't know your name."

He ignored her statement and they walked down the hall back toward the main staircases to the dormatories. When they reached the platform where they would go their seperate ways, they exchanged passwords so they could get into their new houses. "Hey, you ignored my question," she said.

"What, my name?" He mocked her actions earlier and winked, "You'll see." He entered the Ravenclaw common room, already waving hello to the members who saw him walk in.

She hurried up the final staircase to the Hufflepuff common room. She answered the painting's ridiculous riddle and entered, horrified at the consequences of what she was doing, but not regretting it one bit.


	3. The Common Rooms

Ravenclaw Common Room

The Ravenclaw common room immediately seemed odd. He didn't expect it to be this way. He thought that it would be at least a little bit of a party scene on the first day of school. Oh, was he wrong. Almost every single student in that room was already studying for classes. Across the room, he spotted a door that led to a room that looked a bit more exciting than the one he was standing in.

Walking in, he was met by awkward stares and odd glances while he walked across the room to join his friends on one of the couches. "Hey guys!" he said, obviously excited, but trying to sound calm and collected.

"Uh, dude. You're a Hufflepuff," one of them laughed.

He glanced around to make sure nobody overheard that comment, "Not anymore," he motioned to his tie.

"Why do you have one of our uniforms?"

He paused, "It's an experiment."

"Are you gonna keep it up for long?"

"Plan on it," he continued immediately to interrupt any arguments that they would surely have, "Anyway, how are you guys? I haven't talked to any of you since last year."

When he tried to take a seat on their couch, they made no motion to make space for him, so he sat on the coffee table. "Pretty average, but seriously, you missed one of the greatest pranks we've ever played on muggles!" They went on to explain some elaborate prank that would ultimately end up putting a couple muggles into serious therapy for a few years. He didn't remember what it was; something about illusions, fig trees, and raining umbrellas. When he tried to recall the anecdote later, he was stumped, and eventually he accepted the fact that he would never figure out their story. All that he could think of at that moment was, _"What's happening to Zoe right now?"_

"Hey Brad, do you mind if I sleep on your couch for a bit? Someone at the school messed up and didn't assign me a bed," he asked.

"Sure, dude." he paused, "Well, I'm sharing my couch with some guy who is pretty anal about that kinda stuff. The floor's free though." Brad replied casually.

"Thanks."

Hufflepuff Common Room

Zoe entered the Hufflepuff common room sneakily, expecting something like the Ravenclaw common room which she was so accustomed to. A fraction of a second after walking in the door like that, she realized that these two houses truly do have very different ways of life in the dormitories. Everybody was dancing and partying; the music was deafening. Somebody must have put a charm on the door that made it soundproof, because she definitely would have heard this from the hall.

There were groups of students everywhere, all intermingling and drinking pumpkin juice. Nobody noticed when she walked through the door, so she slipped past the crowd of partiers and entered the girls' dormitories. There she found a group of her friends, who she hadn't seen since last year.

"Zoe!" one of them noticed her immediately and jumped up to hug her.

"Claire!" Zoe laughed, returning the hug, then continued to greet the rest of the girls.

"Why are you here?" Claire asked enthusiastically. "Finally realize that Hufflepuff's where the party's at?"

A grin crept onto Zoe's face, she laughed and said, "Yeah. It's complicated, but can I sleep on one of the couches in your rooms?"

"Of course! My couch is free, and we _totally _need to catch up," another girl spoke for the first time.

"Great, thanks Brooke! So, how are you guys?" Zoe motioned for everyone to sit down again.

"Oh, nothing's new with us, but _all_ of us saw you with that sixth year! Spill!" Claire said. The remark was followed by a sea of nodding heads and murmered encouragements.

"You guys saw that? Well, I don't really know what to say about it, I just talked to him a bit. It was nothing important."

"Did he say anything about last year?"

"Why, what happened last year?" She questioned.

"He was the one who put the charms on Snape's office! He almost got expelled!" a redhead named Amy replied.

"What sort of charms?"

"Oh, loads of them. Let's just say that he's a _very_ talented wizard," Amy giggled.

Zoe thought to herself, "_I'll _have_ to ask him about that." _Outwardly she laughed, "Um, alright. Hey, what time is it?"

"It's ten thirty, but don't sleep, you still haven't really talked to us since last year."

"Sorry guys, I need some rest. I'll talk to you all in the morning before classes, okay?"

She got some confusing directions from Brooke to where she would be sleeping. Leaving the group took somewhat longer than she expected, since some of those girls just didn't understand the biological need for sleep.

Once in her room, she folded a sheet of parchment into a paper airplane and secured a note to the inside of it. Whispering a slightly altered spell at it, it flew gracefully up out of the Hufflepuff chimney and plummetted down through Ravenclaw's. The message read:

_It's me. Meet me at the hollow tomorrow before classes._

The message was followed by a basic map of the winding hallways of that part of the castle and an incantation labeled "return."

Already laying on the floor where he would sleep, the boy was kept from falling asleep by a small piece of paper hitting him in the face. _What is this, a paper airplane? Could you be any more like a first year?_ Unfolding the paper, he realized that the airplane originated from a different part of the castle, and would have required a much stronger spell to cast it to him. _Nevermind_.

He read Zoe's invitation, wrote out a simple acceptance, kept the map, and folded a new airplane. He looked at her "return" spell and immediately saw that he knew a much more theatrical variation of it. After a moment of consideration, he added an extra note to the airplane. He grabbed his wand, waved it at the airplane and whispered his incantation. It did a few loops before flying out the chimney and back down to Zoe's room.

Assuming that there wouldn't be a reply that night, he took another pillow from his friend's bed and settled back in on the floor. It was uncomfortable, but he knew that he wouldn't have to sleep there for long

Zoe had nearly drifted off to sleep when the airplane soared into the room. It started doing tricks in mid-air, ending with a small fireworks show. She grabbed the note, unfolded it, and read it.

_I'll be there_

_P.S. I regect your spell and subsitute my own._

She couldn't help but let a smile creep onto her face. _"A Doctor Who fan. The classiccs, no less.I like it." _That was her last thought before she collapsed back into a well-deserved rest on her designated couch.


End file.
